303 Br question

M

Matt74

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Hi Guys,

Is 303 British ammo over 200 grains still produced? I've heard of old 303 ammo of up to 215 gr, but I'm thinking a person might have to load their own if they want to go this heavy now? Like to get a hold of a few over 200 grains...if anyone can point me in the right direction, let me know.
Matt
 
The earliest military ball used a 215 grain bullet. They're not made by anybody anymore, in any flavour of bullet .
Steve at 303british.com is/will be making 200 grain SP bullets in .313" and .314".
 
Marstar has a 230gr flatnose CMJ listed as a component. I suppose you could use a file or something to give it a soft point or bore a cavity in the nose and make it an HP
 
Hi

There are a couple of places that will sell you the gear to swage your own jacketed bullets. Last time I checked a setup was around $5,000. That was a while back ....

Bob
 
Shoot guys, I forgot I even posted this yesterday. I was just browsing through the forum, looking at new threads, and saw my post with all these responses...otherwise I'd forgotten all about it! Sucks when your memory is that bad at age 33!! What will happen when I get older? My God,I just remembered I turn 34 at the end of the month. :eek:
Anyway, thanks for all the reponses. Looks like the only viable alternative is really to touch base with Steve. I'll see if I can drop him a line.
Yup, I can imagine those old 215 grainers were death on deer and moose! Kinda hoping I can just find a few of those to try out for now. I'm only looking for a handful to see how an old 303 works with more lead. Not a pretty picture with the lighter stuff...bore is not the greatest.

Thanks again,

Matt
 
Dan,

That would be awesome! Let me know if you are able to scrounge up a few, as I'm only looking for a handful to try out. That should be enough to tell the tale I'd think.

PM me if you come up with a few and I can send you my addy and some $.

Thanks again!

Matt
 
Matt74 said:
… Sucks when your memory is that bad at age 33!! What will happen when I get older?…
Click to expand...

As a prof. at university used to say, "I can't remember the last time I had a memory lapse." Don't worry, Matt- by the time you're my age (55), you'll have forgotten what it was like to be 33 :p

As to Woodleigh bullets, there was a comment on one of the forums here that the Cdn. distributor had changed, although the last time I looked on Woodleigh's website, Accuracy Plus was still listed as their distributor. If you do find them, be prepared for sticker shock , esp. if you have been foolish enough to check MidwayUSA, although it's irrelevant as we can't order from Midway anyway. BTW, Rhino Bullets (rhinobullets.co.za) in S. Africa also do a 215gr.

Steve Redgwell is probably your best bet. Nice guy, v.knowledgeable and "local." I bought some 200 gr. from him for my P-14 .303 Epps but haven't got around to working up any loads yet.

:) Stuart
 
Matt74 said:
Looks like the only viable alternative is really to touch base with Steve. I'll see if I can drop him a line.
Yup, I can imagine those old 215 grainers were death on deer and moose! Kinda hoping I can just find a few of those to try out for now. I'm only looking for a handful to see how an old 303 works with more lead. Not a pretty picture with the lighter stuff...bore is not the greatest.
Click to expand...
There is another, very viable alternative - especially for rifles with "generous" bores and ball seats. That is bullet casting.

There are numerous people out there who can make you a bullet mould that will throw .303 bullets in the 200 - 215 grain range. Veral Smith will even custom fit your mould to your rifle if you slug the ball seate/throat and send him the slug:
http://www.lbtmoulds.com/pdf/2007CATALOG.pdf

Also check out NEI and Mountain Moulds. Mountain Moulds will allow you to design your bullet from the word go, which takes some experience, but you can end up with a real hammer if you know what you're about. So you can design something like this - not a .303, but quite easy to do the same thing for a .303:

2zxrns


In this weight range, in the .303 British, velocities are such that a jacketed bullet isn't going to give you any terminal advantages over a properly designed and hardened cast bullet. And because you can fit the bullet to the rifle, instead of hoping the bullet will work in the rifle, you'll almost certainly get better accuracy.

However, there is no getting around the fact that there is a bit of a learning curve to casting proper hunting bullets.
 
Rick said:
… And because you can fit the bullet to the rifle, instead of hoping the bullet will work in the rifle, you'll almost certainly get better accuracy.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of doing just that for my new/old 9.3x57 Husqvarna as factory bullets are fairly pricey in that calibre and thus don't encourage a lot of practice.

Steve Redgwell makes his "Mk.9" 200 grainers in .311, .313 and .314 IIRC, precisely to accomodate the varying bore diameters and wear of military rifles.

:) Stuart
 
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